Toi Aotearoa: Colin McCahon - Texts and Gates

During 1961, McCahon created his first Gate paintings. In these the prominence of words is reduced and spatial dynamics enhanced. The artist commented that the Gate works showed 'a way through' where a painting's images expand beyond its frame.

For a decade after 1969, McCahon made text paintings that are among the most redemptive revalations of his career. They ask questions of their viewers while invoking delight and fear for the world's future. Frequently employing texts from the New English Bible, these painitngs convey intense questions of belief.

Texts and Gates was part of a larger exhibition Toi Aotearoa that explored New Zealand's cultural, political and artistic history.